I recently spotted an iPhone ad which inspired me to write this tutorial. It is a gift ribbon, consisting of various app icons, wrapped around an iPhone. This effect can be easily achieved with Photoshop Warp transform tool. Christmas is around the corner and I hope you may find this tutorial useful for upcoming projects. If you are not familar with the Warp tool, I sugest you read my Photo Strip tutorial first.

Preview of The Final Image

1. Download The Source Files

Download the zip file which includes the iPhone image, app icons, and final PSD file.

2. Place The App Icons

Open the iPhone PSD file. Paste the app icons on top of the iPhone layer. Align the icons in a vertical column as shown.

Now, repeat this step for the horizontal row.

3. Mask The Icons

Merge the icon layers and group them. Load the iPhone selection by holding the Cmd key and clicking on the iPhone layer. With the layer group selected, click on the "Add layer mask" icon to mask the layer group.

4. Shadows

With the Gradient tool, apply a black gradient close to the edge of the phone, making them look like they are wrapping around the phone.

5. Right Loop

Select any two app icons of your choice. Merge them together in one layer. Go to menu Edit > Transform > Warp. Now you should see a overlay grid on top of the image. Drag the points, handles, or any where in the grid to warp the image.

Choose any 3 icons and merge them together. Again, go to Edit > Transform > Warp and repeat this step.

Repeat this step.

6. Knot

Paste the Setting icon in a new layer. Use the Warp tool to make it look like a knot.

7. Left Loop

Now, work on the left loop by repeating the warping step.

8. Shading

Create a new layer and set the Blending Mode to Multiply. Load the selection of the icon layer. Apply a light black gradient to create the shading effect.

9. Highlight

Now we need to hightlight the ribbon. Load the selection of the icon layer. Create a new layer. Fill the selection with white. Shift the selection 1px down, 2px right, and then delete the selection.

10. Repeat The Shading and Hightlighting Step

Repeat the previous step to create the highlight and shading for the bow.

11. Bow Shadow

Create a new layer under the bow. Use the Lasso tool and draw a selection. Feather (Select > Modify > Feather) the selection by 10px. Fill the selection with black and mask the layer with the iPhone selection.